I cover real estate, writing about everything from trends in the housing market to ultra high-end luxury listings to data-based cities lists. Real estate is in my blood thanks to a realtor for a mom and a property developer/landlord for a dad. I have had a front row seat for the real estate market's inflation and subsequent crash over the past decade, watching my dad carry on with underwater mortgages and my mom struggle to put home sales together. I have been both a homeowner and a renter in the New York area and can't decide which I prefer.
I am also a regular guest on the 'Forbes on Fox' show on Fox News every Saturday morning and can sometimes be found discussing the major business headlines of the week on MSNBC's 'Weekends with Alex Witt.'
Before taking on the real estate beat, I worked as an Anchor/Reporter in Forbes Video. These days I shoot videos of crazy homes.
I graduated from New York University in 2009 with a BA in Anthropology and prior to that I worked in the other end of media as a recording artist with Sony.
If you have tips, story ideas or listings to submit for consideration, email me at mbrennan@forbes.com.

A sky-high oceanfront spread is exactly what you’d expect from a musician whose celebrity status originated as one-half of a production duo called The Neptunes. Pharrell Williams, a Grammy-winning musician who helped craft songs like Snoop Dog’s “Drop Like It’s Hot” and Jay-Z‘s “Excuse Me Miss,” like is selling his waterfront Miami, Fla. penthouse. Occupying the top three levels of the Bristol Tower, the 9,080-square foot apartment is asking a rock star sum:$16.8 million.

“When we first met Pharrell, we found him to be extremely engaging, smart, focused and energetic. His home is a wonderful reflection of him,” says Jill Hertzberg of The Jills, a Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate team and the agents representing the listing, in a statement.

That “reflection” includes five bedrooms, six and a half baths, a home theater adorned in plush red leather seats and a staircase-studded triple-story great room. Floor-to-ceiling windows and wraparound terraces offer 360-degree views of Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, downtown Miami and the Bay. A rooftop terrace encompasses the top level, equipped with outdoor kitchen, entertainment area and a private pool tucked under a vine-covered trellis.

The music maestro’s Bristol Tower condo floats 40 stories above Brickell, Miami’s flourishing business district. Building amenities include 24-hour security, a fitness center, tennis courts, a pool and a cafeteria. The unit comes with four parking spaces in the building’s valet-parked garage.

Williams purchased the penthouse in 2007 for $12.5 million. Despite the downturn, his asking price represents a 34% appreciation increase.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the sleek spread has hit the sale block now. Art Basel, the high-rolling international art festival that possesses Miami every December, kicks off on Thursday. Williams has been called a “popular presence” at the annual show, where the globe’s cash-flush moneyed elite investigate new art work for their private galleries and new trophy homes for their real estate portfolios.

“We are seeing a huge surge of high-end penthouses sales. Jill and I sold The Continuum penthouse for $15.75 million, The Setai for $21.5 million and The Icon for $21 million,” says Jill Eber, Hertberg’s real estate partner, noting the team even opened a satellite office on Brickell Ave to capture the blossoming neighborhood’s real estate business.

In general Miami’s luxury market is booming. Earlier this year another hip hop celebrity, Aubrey “Drake” Graham, flipped two adjacent condos in luxury tower Marquis Residences for $2.4 million after a buyer materialized 24 hours after they listed. More than 30 home sales priced $10 million or higher have transpired in the past 18 months, from Coral Gables to Bal Harbor. An amenity-laden Indian Creek compound dashed real estate records earlier this year when it fetched $47 million in the county’s most expensive sale ever.

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